Little Bay Park

Two of Little Bay Park’s boundaries are important thoroughfares in the borough of Queens: Cross Island Parkway and Utopia Parkway. The third boundary is beachfront. Parks acquired the property via condemnation in September 1950. The agency planned to develop the shoreline area but the construction of the Throgs Neck Bridge and the fiscal crisis of the 1970s put an end to the plan. Previously known as Clearview Park, Parks assigned the property’s present name in 1973.

The Mantinecock tribe originally inhabited the shores of Little Bay. But in 1644, King Charles I of England gave 16,000 acres of land to his countryman William Lawrence. The grant, which included today’s Bayside, stimulated European settlement in the area. In 1683, when the Crown organized the New York colony into ten separate counties, the land became part of Queens County, which encompassed both present-day Queens and Nassau Counties.

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Little Bay Park

The parking lot off Totten Avenue is closed to construct a new comfort station and expand the parking lot at Little Bay Park to serve users of both Little Bay Park and Fort Totten park. The existing parking lot will be reconstructed and new planted islands (swales) will be added to improve air quality and reduce storm water run-off. The Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, which currently runs along the southern end of the park, will be relocated along the waterfront and extended into Fort Totten Park. New landscaped meadows and tree plantings will be added between the parking lot and the Cross Island service road, and a new comfort station will be added to Little Bay Park. This project will improve public access to Little Bay and Fort Totten Parks and will improve the utility and public enjoyment of the Greenway. A smaller parking lot is available off the Cross Island Service Road.Anticipated Completion: Fall 2014